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Lead Stories: Friday, November 21, 2008

Kate O’Neill:
Taking the First Steps
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #9)

Posted May 27th, 2008 at 2:30 PM by Kate O'Neill

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Kate O'Neill

Hi, this is my blog in TFS’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Bookmark kateoneill.thefinalsprint.com and check back every other Monday for my latest entry as I strive for the 2008 Summer Olympics!

For the first few weeks after the Olympic Marathon Trials, I was not able to run at all, but I thought about running constantly. Worries about what I had done wrong filled my head and doubts made me question all of my decisions leading up to the race. As my knee improved and I progressed toward running again, those thoughts quickly changed from the past to the future. I kept wondering what those first few steps of running would feel like. The first run loomed over thoughts and I wanted to do everything I could do to make sure that it went well.

I have been running for 13 years. In an ideal world, all those years of experience would make the act of running instinctual. I would not have needed to waste energy with all these thoughts. Instead, I felt sick with worry that my feet would no longer remember how to support me, my arms would start flailing, and my knees would buckle forward into each other.
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“There’s no crying in running!” … How to recover from a bad race

Posted June 26th, 2007 at 12:00 PM by Bridget Sullivan

Section: Running & Training, Motivation, Training Tips

“Once you’re beat mentally, you might as well not even go to the starting line.” -Todd WilliamsWhen I nervously pinned my bib number onto my new technical tee, slathered my body in Ben-Gay, and stretched my aching glutes and hamstrings, I knew that I was not sufficiently prepared for the 26.2-mile journey ahead of me.

I was too stubborn to admit defeat, but when mile 14 rolled by, I stopped. I frantically watched as the seconds ticked away and my goal time turned into a sad country song . . . the man of my dreams didn’t slip away, but the race of my dreams sure did.

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